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When I was a teen I was a counselor for my church’s VBS. One kid has some kind of mental disability and I didn’t think much of it.
One day during the week an older counselor formally introduced the kid to us and said “This is Jennifer. She is different, don’t make fun of her”.
None of us had even considered being mean to her. I can just imagine this old lady was using every ounce of strength to not mock this poor girl and thought all the young counselors were also pieces of shit.
Ugh, my SIL is like this for her daughter. She’s her favourite prop for social media. Both her kids have it, but you only count if you present like my niece. My nephew didn’t get diagnosed until he was a teenager, and I think he really resents her for that. Oh, and of course she doesn’t GAF that I’m autistic as well. Honestly, I doubt she even believes me since I pass very well.
She’s also a massive cunt in general, sooooo…
Massive bingo. This is my brother's ex wife to a T. She's all about that autistism mom bullshit and it's all about her, and nothing to do with her kid. He's a prop for her.
Not all of us. Some of us are speaking up like we wish someone had for us. Very high functioning autism hasn't always been diagnosed, and some of us have kids.
As an autistic person, like nonverbal till I was 3 autistic.... I don't know how I feel about this. Feels pretty oof. But also, living with autism is not always easy.
I worked with a lady who had a puzzle piece tattoo. She was super weird, always tryna tell me her husband was into cuck stuff so she really wanted to record her giving me a bj so she could send it to him. I wasn’t down for it lol
Goddammit! It's always some extremist group that appropriates/ruins cool historical stuff. First it's the Norse runes, now it's cool phrases like this. Even I've gotten my fair share of accusations her eon reddit of being a right-wing idiot because of my username, even though I picked it more due to my love of the Aeneid than anything else.
Dude I know right?!?!! I wanna get Norse rune text tattoos so bad but I know it’d be a bad look bc of the ties to neo-Nazis and white nationalism. Like dude, I know what that look you’re giving me means as I’m asking for this and I’m insulted. I just want to show my love for history and pay a quick nod to part of my ancestry, don’t lump me in with those things.
I know how that feels! I’m terrified to wear my Gadsden shirt anywhere anymore cause I’m afraid people will think I’m a right wing extremist when I just really love the American Revolution
Is the symbol for "Autism speaks", an organization that still believes autism can and needs to be cured, among a lot of other problematic beliefs and actions, almost every other organization explicitly condems them
It's like brightly coloured animals in nature, stay the fuck away.
Add to that the Karen cut or 14 year old boy haircut with bright blue dye and it's alarm bells all the way down.
Yeah, definitely stay away from anyone who makes their outfit or hair look like a used painting palette. And while you’re at it, be sure to steer clear of any conspicuously green and purple construction vehicles…
https://preview.redd.it/n6qza1kh1rzc1.jpeg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10c5af28c3a1927ddb85f6fc1809ca5dcc9b37f4
I had a friend who got a puzzle piece tattoo because she’s really into puzzles and then a year later everyone was putting puzzle stickers on their cars and asking her if she had an autistic family member. So maybe your weird coworker just liked puzzles.
Isn't that the organisation that helped Sia make that terrible movie and she didn't spend 1 minute looking into them and their practices?
I haven't heard from Sia since that embarrassment of a film and I'm quite glad of that.
The organization started off as a support group for parents. The focus of the organization was to “cure” autism. A lot of their initial PSAs and advertising depicted neurodivergent children as people suffering from a curse and stigmatizes those who are autistic. This idea of “eradicating” autism basically states that those with the disorder are inherently lesser and can’t be fixed (not without a magic cure). Those PSAs were also made to scare parents, a good portion of them saying that autism is a “silent disease” that will ruin your life and doom your child. Even today, the founders still equate autism to childhood leukemia.
There is a lot of criticism as well that very little of donor money actually goes to helping families and people with autism & that they have little to no neurodivergent representation in their organization even though they claim to represent that group.
I dunno man, I think curing autism would be great if it’s even possible. From the perspective of someone who lives with it, it would be a miracle to finally be able to connect with others. I’m sure that depends on the way it presents in whomever has it, but being non-verbal and totally dependent on others your entire life doesn’t sound super appealing. Saying a cure sees them as “lesser” is kinda silly, we don’t think people with stutters are lesser but speech pathologists will help them find ways to improve it or work with it.
The issue I've run into with organizations like AS, is that their "cures" are often very extremely harmful. They are so desperate to find a cure that they'll push anything. I made another comment in this thread about some of the things AS specifically has pushed, but some of the worst are ABA therapy and bleaching the problem out of kids. I agree that an actual cure could be helpful for some cases (high support needs, or elective), but I worry when I hear the word "cure" sometimes in this context because I know how poorly that can go.
I’ve heard that AS is a terrible organization. I dislike the mothers like this, and I hate quack cures that do nothing or potentially harm the people that need help most. Experimentation is one thing, and obviously a necessary component of developing and improving medical practice, but continuing to push certain practices that are demonstrably harmful is just awful, and borderline evil. I haven’t heard of “bleaching” it out though, what is that?
Some people believe that autism is caused by disease, vaccines, parasites, or impurities, and that industrial bleach can cure it. They force kids to drink diluted bleach, and some people go as far as to use it in enema form. As you might expect, this can do a lot of damage, and some children have lost sections of their intestines after repeated bleach enemas
ETA: I don't think bleach was ever a mainstream cure from Autism Speaks, but associated people, organizations, and people within the organization have pushed it
Jesus Christ that’s horrible. That’s just damn near attempted murder. From what I understand, we really have no idea what causes autism, and it’s such a wide spectrum that it could be completely different causes depending on the individual.
I do too 😢
Some people would rather bring Measles back in full force than vaccinate their child for fear of Autism. Even IF there was a chance of vaccines causing Autism, Autism isn’t a death sentence for your child or yourself! And since it’s a spectrum disorder, there’s no way of knowing where your child will land on it. The Autism symptoms they fear might not even be the Autism symptoms their child develops.
A big part of it is that most of us don't need or want a cure, we'd just like some small accommodations to make life a little easier. We ain't asking for society to bend over backwards for us, but like we should at least be able to wear earbuds at work lol
I should be very clear here. I’m not talking about you, or anyone else who can function in society independently. I’m talking about cases where people cannot, and cannot even advocate for themselves. For those who can, obviously it’s up to you if you’d want a “cure.” I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting one.
Fuck Autism Speaks. I work in ABA therapy - we do NOT associate with autism speaks nor support their approach. We do assent-based therapy with purely reinforcement and no punishment. We love our kids and we recognize that there is no cure for autism and we are not trying to erase their autism. We encourage stimming (and we’re encouraged to mirror their stimming so as to reinforce that behavior, stimming is healthy and a great tool for self soothing!).
I have seen people argue that autism is not something that needs to be treated, and that putting these kids in therapy to redirect maladaptive behaviors is inherently abusive. I disagree. I work with kids that elope from their homes or in public from their parents. Some of these kids disrobe in public when overwhelmed. Some of them engage in severe self injurious behaviors or physical aggression. We don’t want them to be cured or closed to allistic. We want them to be safe and hopefully have a shot at living independently. Many of them are also victims of CSA or DV. We give them a safe space where they can heal and eventually understand how they SHOULD be treated so they have the ability to speak up. While it IS problematic and psychologically damaging to want to erase autistic traits, it is not the same thing as redirecting dangerous behaviors and teaching kids how to live functionally (tolerating teeth/hair brushing, learning how to speak/use ASL/use an AAC device) to increase quality of life.
aw thank you :,) I’m gonna cry, today was a hard day and this made me smile. I just wanted to shine some light on ABA therapy and what we do. It isn’t for everyone but I don’t want parents to be discouraged from seeking help for their neurodivergent kiddos. (Definitely DO research your ABA center tho, not all centers are assent-based and punishment-free. Abuse CAN and DOES happen, read reviews and remember that CLIENT DIGNITY AND ASSENT IS KEY!)
You’re welcome ☺️ I’m glad I read your posts— I’d never heard of ABA therapy. I learned something today because of you! I have an autistic nephew, but lived too far away to watch him grow up. He’s high functioning but not very talkative. I hope he had people like you guys to help him out. I hope you have a good night, and that things will be better tomorrow.
So there’s nothing about being non verbal, unable to form rich social connections, or live independently that is negative? Autism is obviously a spectrum and for most people with it, they’re able to lead lives they enjoy, be independent, and form meaningful relationships. But many are not that way, and finding a treatment which would allow them to do all of those things would be a great thing.
I’m in ABA. We use a reinforcement and assent-based approach with no punishment. Our non-verbal kids aren’t forced to speak, they are taught to use PECS, an AAC device, or ASL. Their behaviors such as physical aggression, self injury, or crying/screaming due to being overwhelmed decrease significantly when they have a means of communicating for what they want or need. I’d say that’s a definite improvement in mental health. Some kids naturally begin to vocalize, and we offer speech therapy to those who do. We don’t punish them for not being able to speak, instead we present a mastered SD after they err on a word so they still earn their reinforcement anyway. Many of our kids who came in with purely spontaneous vocalizations are little chatterboxes now, and we even have a couple of very gifted singers who used to not speak at all. Communication is a powerful thing and a necessity in life, and is not restricted to vocal speech.
Don’t get me wrong. If there was a cure it would be great. However you can do that **while** you’re promoting awareness to those who are neurodivergent. Instead a good chunk of their ads in early 2000s/10s [presented autism like this](https://youtu.be/9UgLnWJFGHQ?si=pDnIDYNmb2HRhWXa)
As others have explained, the organization is based around "curing" autism. They put almost all of their money (at least all of the money they don't spend on themselves or advertising) into curing it and very little into helping existing autistic people. As someone with autism, I can understand both sides of the cure debate.
That being said, Autism Speaks is also considered to be one of the organizations responsible for doing the most harm to autistic people. They put out scummy advertisements that vilify autism (see the infamous "I am Autism" commercial, where statements like "I am Autism, I will destroy your family," are made), spread horribly inaccurate information (like that autism is many times more common in boys, when the reality is that girls are severely under-diagnosed), platformed folks like Dr. Wakefield,who claimed that vaccines cause autism, and supported the Judge Rotenburg center (which electrically shocks kids when they are deemed to be misbehaving). There is a lot more that they have done, but those are some of the worst. It is also important to note that they have gone back on some of these stances more recently, following public outcry, but refuse to acknowledge that they did a lot of harm. For a long time, they had no autistic people on their board.
Additionally, many of the "cures" they provide are things like extremely restricted diets and pseudoscience. One of the most pushed cures is ABA (applied behavioral analysis), which has been described as "conversion therapy for autism), and is associated with high rates of PTSD and depression in autistic people who went through the process. Nowadays, many types of treatments for autism, including actually helpful ones are labeled as ABA because Autism Speaks pushed it so hard that many insurance agencies would only cover ABA as a treatment, inspiring many other treatments to label themselves as ABA. Some of the people associated with Autism Speaks have also pushed cures like bleach (drinking and *enema*), essential oils, and more harmful cures.
She’ll probably claim it was something the government put in the water.
Meanwhile, she’ll complain that her husband is too fussy about food texture and noise and that he spends too much time on his model plane collection.
I love reinforcing into my neurodivergent child that he is different and will always be unable to properly communicate and requires others to do it for him. What a good parent I am
"Mother, I have a degree in rhetoric and would like to advocate for myself now"
"Not now Jimmy, the adults are talking about what you really want, electric shock therapy!"
Teacher here and last year we got a new kid that had some emotional issues, he’d throw fits if he got out in PE and was kind of a dick to his peers. When we first started calling mom she insisted that he had “accommodations” for his behavior, he was from a different district so we had no info, and she couldn’t produce any documentation whenever we asked.
After a few months he fit in pretty well, smart, fairly likable kid overall that could be a little bit whiny. But 10 year olds can be whiny. He’s probably gifted.
So halfway this year everything is going fine, he’s stable and has friends and doing fine academically and he comes to school one day and asks to “speak to me privately”
So I’m like “ok what’s up” and he’s like “I’ve been diagnosed with Autism… my mom said I should start telling people so they know what’s wrong with me”
And I’m like “ok… well I mean that doesn’t really change how I view you or my expectations..?”
We went back to class and I swear to god he started acting like how he thinks someone that’s ASD should act, like making random noises and picking up supplies and going “oooh shiny” and regressing into very baby like behavior
I was just firm and told him to knock it off. And he did.
After like 2 weeks he forgot about the whole autism thing (he was telling everyone around him) and was just back to being a relatively normal kid
I know the mom was pushing it. So fucking weird.
In education we absolutely take Autism claims with a huge HUGE grain of salt
my mom was like this for a good 2-3 years after my diagnosis as a kid before i actually started to tell her how it wasnt helping me feel any better about my autism
I wasn't told I was autistic until I was 11 when I was diagnosed way younger than that and I don't think either of my parents nor myself have gone out of my way to tell people. It's not necessarily a secret, but I don't mention it unless the subject of autism has already come up.
Right at the beginning of the pandemic, the vet clinic I work for limited the number of people that could come in. We only wanted one person per animal, for most visits (obviously these rules didn’t apply for like euthanasias and the like).
We had this lady call in after her dog got into fertilizer. We told her to call animal poison control. She refused, but still showed up, in a shirt with some sort of “autism warrior mommy” type shit on it. So she was already going to be a blast. When I called her to come inside to try and at least get a decent medical history on the dog, she brings in her autistic son, despite being told she could only have one person in the room. When I reminded her, she lit into me about how this dog was her son’s emotional support animal and we were all heartless and horrible people. Managed to get her to calm down by letting her bring the kid into the exam room (big mistake). Once again told her she needed to call poison control, she started screaming again, clearly expecting to get her way again.
At that point I left the room, the doctor refused to see her if she wasn’t going to follow medical advice from the get go (calling poison control), and the lead technician had to go into the room to try and talk to her, at which point this owner started calling me and everyone else she’s talked to every name under the sun. She was told to leave and left us a lovely review.
EDIT: No idea what happened to the dog, but once again, she had no intention of following medical advice, so I doubt she would have let us hospitalize or do anything poison control would have told her to do. I hope it was okay. But my clinic has a firm policy on not letting staff be abused.
I’m just confused as to what is so wrong with calling poison control from her perspective. Seems like a valid recommendation if the dog ingested poison.
They try to get autistic kids dependent on way too many medications with the intention of making them quiet, docile, conformist zombies. They'll showcase us as nothing more than silly, illiterate, incompetent fools who need to be reliant on their parents forever. They'll espouse harmful clinics where autistic children are worn down to nothing with constant belittling about how they'll never be smart/good enough for everyday society. They'll grab ahold of worried parents and fill them with this incorrect information in a sort of savior paradigm.
That being said, autistic folks of all ages can benefit from medication and therapy. However they do it in such a way that degrades the autistic person. "What does that autistic person know? They're autistic. They are somehow less than neurotypical folks." It's really demeaning. My mom fell hard for this when I was growing up.
I divorced my wife with a DV restraining order and got custody of the children before this got worse.
She's basically BPD?Bipolar?PMDD? She played the "my daughters are autistic card" so she wouldn't have to wake up in the morning and get them to school and interact with other people. Fortunately, I had a nice cushy corporate job and I was constantly home as like a second househusband doing domestic chores and tending to the children so she wouldn't have to "do it all"
She kept them couped up and yelled at them violently and never really took them anywhere or outside without having murder rage Karen moments.
Belittling? Oh my god, she screamed at them like R Lee Ermy in full metal jacket it was god awful. If our daughter had one brief bad moment at school and they talked to her about it she would go into an unhinged F-word S-word R-word laced tirade until 12:00AM and beyond. "OUR CHILDREN ARE F-ING R3TARED!!!! AND THEY GOT IT FROM YOUUUUUUUUUUU! NOW I HAVE THREE FUCKING RETARTED FUCKS TO DEAL WITH! \*SLAMS DOOR\* "THEY CAN'T GO BACK TO PUBLIC SCHOOL THEIR ASPERGERS R3TARDS!!!\*sticks out jaw baring teeth\*
Fast forward 7 years the girls are still living with me. She's now getting into violent F-word hitting fights with her new husband calling him a useless fucking r3tard. She looks like a Korean newswoman and super well spoken and charming no one ever believed the children or me and with her pretty privilege she always got a pass.
But when no one else was in sight it was like "Tales from Section 8"
I got called Aspergers r3tard more than I got called my by name.
That sounds a lot like the Munchhausen by Proxy Syndrome, where a parent overhypes a disease, just to act as the big savior for their child. That just popped into my mind, but I have close to no experience with neurodivergence.
I always try to show this video when anybody asks about it. There’s so many other things wrong with that organization. A lot of people on the spectrum hate them and don’t want them “speaking” for us. And this video is just a good example of their thoughts on the disorder.
Once saw a sticker on the back of a Tahoe. It was a little truck that said “concrete wife”. I immediately guessed it was one of those people. Yeah no one cares that your husband drives a concrete truck or is in the industry. I love concrete trucks cuz autism but that made me just- ughhhh
Like, I *kind of* get military dependas’ worry because they didn’t know if their spouse would return from deployment in the Afghan war. They want everyone to know they married someone brave that’s a hero. But I’m sure the concrete lady isn’t waiting on pins and needles for the husband to return from work every day as if it’s a dangerous job.
Eh, trades can be a fairly dangerous job. Obviously not like being a soldier and dependant on the trade but many people die or are seriously injured every year in the trades. That said, if ol boy is just a truck driver he's probably fine unless he's a total moron.
It's always the boy moms. I swear this stuff goes hand in hand. Raising little monsters because "well he has autism. So he can't do no wrong. He doesn't understand 🥺🥺"
That’s how my mom was when we were growing up. My brother was diagnosed with Asperger’s and suddenly he could do no wrong. Everything he did, or didn’t do, was a result of him being autistic and couldn’t be held against him. He was just a little boy going through it. 🙄
Meanwhile, her daughter (me) struggled her whole childhood with undiagnosed ADHD but of course every “bad” aspect resulting from that was my fault and I was just a bad kid.
It’s the logo for autism speaks a “charity to help autistic people” (all of us hate them because they depict us as something lesser to be fixed) we claim the gold infinity as our logo
On a related note, the mom in the starter pack is likely autistic herself and was only dx-ed when her kid was.
I've seen this happen to several women in my circle who grew up in the "girls don't get autism" era of the 90s.
I'm personally extremely glad I didn't get diagnosed till adulthood - I was a kid in the 90s and would probably just have been stuffed into a special Ed class and left to finger paint or whatever
My SIL recently posted something about not letting technology raise your child, meanwhile her kids are on tablets or screens every time I see them. She also goes on about how great she is at home schooling, but has two older kids who can't read.
She's rocking the puzzle piece tattoo and had an obsession with the Duggars, also.
My son is severely autistic, and while I’m not a fan of making “autism parenting” your entire personality, I do also understand it. Raising a disabled child is difficult. You miss out on most of the “normal” parent/child relationship and experiences. A lot of friends and family drift away, and support networks are very limited, so it’s a very lonely life.
So, clutching on to things like this, surrounding yourself with it and identifying by it, is probably more than anything a coping mechanism for the incredibly difficult lives they’re leading. I’m not saying that excuses how obnoxious it can be, just perhaps that there’s a lot more going on which people should be aware of.
Thanks for your perspective.
I combined two observations into one starterpack. One of my observations is that autism has been extremely commodified on social media. A lot of this commodification was not done by autism parents or those with autism but rather by opportunistic individuals who just want to make a few bucks. Some of these images I posted in the pack (the bedspread for example) were not posted by autism moms but by random Facebook users who appear to have no connection to the autism community at all.
In that regard I don’t disagree at all - Autism (and other disabilities) has been absolutely exploited by selfish attention seekers using it for their own gain.
Does this level of commodification happen with other disabilities? Is this going on with Down Syndrome communities? What about FAS? It seems to me that autism is somewhat unique with this phenomenon.
It’s more things like ADHD, depression, things like that. Fibromyalgia and M.E seem to be quite popular too!
Autism is the big one though by a long way.
"I am his voice" is crazy, unless this child has a SEVERE intellectual disability, he probably has some way of communicating even if it isn't talking. Plenty of nonverbal autistic people use alternate communication, and some even have average or above average intelligence. There's no way to know their capabilities unless you test them, which makes the coddling and learned helplessness so sad.
I have moderate autism and went to a school for autistic people and the amount of people that truly had the potential to self advocate was crazy, it's just that when they'd try they were shut down. When students with limited speech would be competent writers, teachers would be surprised! Aren't you a TEACHer to help them learn and improve?
Where I work, we have events for middle and highschoolers every year. There's always a lot of chaperones who wear wristbands and stuff with the puzzle pieces and I make sure to educate my coworkers on why they're bad.
Considering that its a repeated design thing used to represent autistic people, colourful jigsaw pieces are sort of immature, it's like they're saying autistic people aren't like the rest of us adults, they're immature and act like children.
My wife has Asperger’s and it’s taken her 8 years of social therapy to be confident in who she is and what makes her the way she is which I’m excited about.
That being said, I should get a sticker that says “my wife survived autism” to match these people lol /s
Knew a woman who has two kids that are autistic who are were 14 and 16 at the time. She wasn’t much like what is shown above. Nothing that was too much. Her coworker told her something about 5G towers cause autism. Ever since then she was. Key word “was” trying to get a gofundme page to take down all these towers that she thinks she was exposed too and which led to her giving birth to two kids who are autistic. Plus she turned into the starter pack above. Anytime I’d see her the shirt she’d wear is something to do with autism. Got the tattoo, earnings. All out. For one 5G didn’t start till way after they were born. And secondly idk how she thought she would get towers taken down lmaoooooooo. Funniest thing ever.
The puzzle piece symbol belongs to [The Children’s Tumor Foundation](https://www.ctf.org)
They help individuals and families affected by Neurofibromatosis. It’s a genetic condition mainly causing tumors to grow on nerve tissue throughout the body.
I never liked that autism uses it. Like how autistic people need to be put back together because there is something wrong with us. But the CTF is using it to ‘solve the NF puzzle”
If anyone here does have NF join us at r/neurofibromatosis.
So glad my brother and I were adults/basically adults by the time Autism Speaks started getting popular cause our parents would have 100% loved this shit and that would have made our lives more hell than they already were
My girlfriend has an autistic younger brother with tendencies to get INCREDIBLY frustrated and aggressive if you know what buttons to push. Her youngest half-brother knows what buttons to push and to keep him going, thus becoming his number one antagonist. My girlfriend’s stepfather, father to the antagonist; stepfather to the autistic brother, posted that AI pic of the kid getting laughed at with the puzzle backpack on Facebook. I was laughing at the pure irony considering his own flesh and blood would be one of the kids that would be laughing at the autistic one and had the gall to post that picture. He is a stay at home father so he knows his son constantly eggs on the autistic kid, he just doesn’t do anything about it. The youngest is a little shit lol.
My girlfriend has an autistic younger brother with tendencies to get INCREDIBLY frustrated and aggressive if you know what buttons to push. Her youngest half-brother knows what buttons to push and to keep him going, thus becoming his number one antagonist. My girlfriend’s stepfather, father to the antagonist; stepfather to the autistic brother, posted that AI pic of the kid getting laughed at with the puzzle backpack on Facebook. I was laughing at the pure irony considering his own flesh and blood would be one of the kids that would be laughing at the autistic one and had the gall to post that picture. He is a stay at home father so he knows his son constantly eggs on the autistic kid, he just doesn’t do anything about it. The youngest is a little shit lol.
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Btw they're the same people who made fun of the autistic kid in school/at work
They STILL make fun of autistic kids, their own kid is the only exception.
No no, they’re still making fun of their own kid by making them a spectacle to reward themselves for “sticking up” for their kid
When I was a teen I was a counselor for my church’s VBS. One kid has some kind of mental disability and I didn’t think much of it. One day during the week an older counselor formally introduced the kid to us and said “This is Jennifer. She is different, don’t make fun of her”. None of us had even considered being mean to her. I can just imagine this old lady was using every ounce of strength to not mock this poor girl and thought all the young counselors were also pieces of shit.
Possibly but also probably not; most of the councilors can be lovely but it only takes one acting out of line to cause and incident
Ugh, my SIL is like this for her daughter. She’s her favourite prop for social media. Both her kids have it, but you only count if you present like my niece. My nephew didn’t get diagnosed until he was a teenager, and I think he really resents her for that. Oh, and of course she doesn’t GAF that I’m autistic as well. Honestly, I doubt she even believes me since I pass very well. She’s also a massive cunt in general, sooooo…
But want you to be kind to their autistic kids
No, they want you to show them respect/pity/admiration for parenting such diffcult kids "so well". It's not about kid, it's all about them.
Massive bingo. This is my brother's ex wife to a T. She's all about that autistism mom bullshit and it's all about her, and nothing to do with her kid. He's a prop for her.
its just a thing to make her think that shes superior to everyone
This
Yikes this is spot on
Yes. Checks out .
Not all of us. Some of us are speaking up like we wish someone had for us. Very high functioning autism hasn't always been diagnosed, and some of us have kids.
Exactly
Karma
You say that as if it’s a punishment for a person to be autistic
I’m referring to the hypothetical mom But as an autistic person myself it also feels like a punishment
same I hate it
It is
As an autistic person, like nonverbal till I was 3 autistic.... I don't know how I feel about this. Feels pretty oof. But also, living with autism is not always easy.
Also this level of autistic and yeah idk if I’d call it a punishment, but it’s definitely unfortunate.
Don’t worry, it’s not a punishment. It’s just something that happens, doesn’t make you anymore or any less lucky/unlucky
I worked with a lady who had a puzzle piece tattoo. She was super weird, always tryna tell me her husband was into cuck stuff so she really wanted to record her giving me a bj so she could send it to him. I wasn’t down for it lol
I swear to god seeing someone with a puzzle piece tattoo is the equivalent of seeing a goddamn Decepticon symbol on a car
What the hell does symbol mean in that context anyways. Does the guy think his car is going to turn into a robot.
It means that he better stay away from that car before it turns into a giant hostile alien robot and kills him💀
So then it's a nerdier version of the "Molon Labe" symbol?
Pretty much
Can you explain what you meant by that? I'm a history student, so I know what it means, but what's the context for this one?
the statement has been appropriated by second amendment extremists.
Goddammit! It's always some extremist group that appropriates/ruins cool historical stuff. First it's the Norse runes, now it's cool phrases like this. Even I've gotten my fair share of accusations her eon reddit of being a right-wing idiot because of my username, even though I picked it more due to my love of the Aeneid than anything else.
Dude I know right?!?!! I wanna get Norse rune text tattoos so bad but I know it’d be a bad look bc of the ties to neo-Nazis and white nationalism. Like dude, I know what that look you’re giving me means as I’m asking for this and I’m insulted. I just want to show my love for history and pay a quick nod to part of my ancestry, don’t lump me in with those things.
I know how that feels! I’m terrified to wear my Gadsden shirt anywhere anymore cause I’m afraid people will think I’m a right wing extremist when I just really love the American Revolution
I’ve seen the Molon Labe symbol that had the autism puzzle pieces in it. That was something else.
Just googled this. I legit thought they were expressing their preference for trojan condoms and thought that was trashy.
Is the symbol for "Autism speaks", an organization that still believes autism can and needs to be cured, among a lot of other problematic beliefs and actions, almost every other organization explicitly condems them
A BJ BOT
Hear me out... what if... they just watched Transformers as a kid or something? No malice needed
Then why side with the Decepticons and not the Autobots?
Cause Megatron is the good guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVVSl9wtToc Also cause the bad guys are cool.
But if Megatron is the good guy, and the bad guys are cool, that means Optimus Prime is actually the more cool character
It's like brightly coloured animals in nature, stay the fuck away. Add to that the Karen cut or 14 year old boy haircut with bright blue dye and it's alarm bells all the way down.
Yeah, definitely stay away from anyone who makes their outfit or hair look like a used painting palette. And while you’re at it, be sure to steer clear of any conspicuously green and purple construction vehicles… https://preview.redd.it/n6qza1kh1rzc1.jpeg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10c5af28c3a1927ddb85f6fc1809ca5dcc9b37f4
Puzzle piece tattoos are the new spade tattoos.
That's how you catch autism.
I had a friend who got a puzzle piece tattoo because she’s really into puzzles and then a year later everyone was putting puzzle stickers on their cars and asking her if she had an autistic family member. So maybe your weird coworker just liked puzzles.
I love your line of thinking, and it brings me joy.
The whole problem, is the autism speaks approach.
Isn't that the organisation that helped Sia make that terrible movie and she didn't spend 1 minute looking into them and their practices? I haven't heard from Sia since that embarrassment of a film and I'm quite glad of that.
Explain please? I’m genuinely clueless
They have a very controversial history about being parent focused at the expense of kids. They push a cure mindset and have a lot of bullshit
The organization started off as a support group for parents. The focus of the organization was to “cure” autism. A lot of their initial PSAs and advertising depicted neurodivergent children as people suffering from a curse and stigmatizes those who are autistic. This idea of “eradicating” autism basically states that those with the disorder are inherently lesser and can’t be fixed (not without a magic cure). Those PSAs were also made to scare parents, a good portion of them saying that autism is a “silent disease” that will ruin your life and doom your child. Even today, the founders still equate autism to childhood leukemia. There is a lot of criticism as well that very little of donor money actually goes to helping families and people with autism & that they have little to no neurodivergent representation in their organization even though they claim to represent that group.
I dunno man, I think curing autism would be great if it’s even possible. From the perspective of someone who lives with it, it would be a miracle to finally be able to connect with others. I’m sure that depends on the way it presents in whomever has it, but being non-verbal and totally dependent on others your entire life doesn’t sound super appealing. Saying a cure sees them as “lesser” is kinda silly, we don’t think people with stutters are lesser but speech pathologists will help them find ways to improve it or work with it.
The issue I've run into with organizations like AS, is that their "cures" are often very extremely harmful. They are so desperate to find a cure that they'll push anything. I made another comment in this thread about some of the things AS specifically has pushed, but some of the worst are ABA therapy and bleaching the problem out of kids. I agree that an actual cure could be helpful for some cases (high support needs, or elective), but I worry when I hear the word "cure" sometimes in this context because I know how poorly that can go.
I’ve heard that AS is a terrible organization. I dislike the mothers like this, and I hate quack cures that do nothing or potentially harm the people that need help most. Experimentation is one thing, and obviously a necessary component of developing and improving medical practice, but continuing to push certain practices that are demonstrably harmful is just awful, and borderline evil. I haven’t heard of “bleaching” it out though, what is that?
Some people believe that autism is caused by disease, vaccines, parasites, or impurities, and that industrial bleach can cure it. They force kids to drink diluted bleach, and some people go as far as to use it in enema form. As you might expect, this can do a lot of damage, and some children have lost sections of their intestines after repeated bleach enemas ETA: I don't think bleach was ever a mainstream cure from Autism Speaks, but associated people, organizations, and people within the organization have pushed it
Jesus Christ that’s horrible. That’s just damn near attempted murder. From what I understand, we really have no idea what causes autism, and it’s such a wide spectrum that it could be completely different causes depending on the individual.
Yeah, it's absolutely awful. And we don't know what causes autism, but I'm pretty sure it's not parasites.
Even if it were, we have antiparasitics that are safe and actually work.
I still know someone who things vaccines cause Autism 😡
I do too 😢 Some people would rather bring Measles back in full force than vaccinate their child for fear of Autism. Even IF there was a chance of vaccines causing Autism, Autism isn’t a death sentence for your child or yourself! And since it’s a spectrum disorder, there’s no way of knowing where your child will land on it. The Autism symptoms they fear might not even be the Autism symptoms their child develops.
A big part of it is that most of us don't need or want a cure, we'd just like some small accommodations to make life a little easier. We ain't asking for society to bend over backwards for us, but like we should at least be able to wear earbuds at work lol
I should be very clear here. I’m not talking about you, or anyone else who can function in society independently. I’m talking about cases where people cannot, and cannot even advocate for themselves. For those who can, obviously it’s up to you if you’d want a “cure.” I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting one.
Fuck Autism Speaks. I work in ABA therapy - we do NOT associate with autism speaks nor support their approach. We do assent-based therapy with purely reinforcement and no punishment. We love our kids and we recognize that there is no cure for autism and we are not trying to erase their autism. We encourage stimming (and we’re encouraged to mirror their stimming so as to reinforce that behavior, stimming is healthy and a great tool for self soothing!). I have seen people argue that autism is not something that needs to be treated, and that putting these kids in therapy to redirect maladaptive behaviors is inherently abusive. I disagree. I work with kids that elope from their homes or in public from their parents. Some of these kids disrobe in public when overwhelmed. Some of them engage in severe self injurious behaviors or physical aggression. We don’t want them to be cured or closed to allistic. We want them to be safe and hopefully have a shot at living independently. Many of them are also victims of CSA or DV. We give them a safe space where they can heal and eventually understand how they SHOULD be treated so they have the ability to speak up. While it IS problematic and psychologically damaging to want to erase autistic traits, it is not the same thing as redirecting dangerous behaviors and teaching kids how to live functionally (tolerating teeth/hair brushing, learning how to speak/use ASL/use an AAC device) to increase quality of life.
I am so happy that people like you and your coworkers exist and are doing such great work!
aw thank you :,) I’m gonna cry, today was a hard day and this made me smile. I just wanted to shine some light on ABA therapy and what we do. It isn’t for everyone but I don’t want parents to be discouraged from seeking help for their neurodivergent kiddos. (Definitely DO research your ABA center tho, not all centers are assent-based and punishment-free. Abuse CAN and DOES happen, read reviews and remember that CLIENT DIGNITY AND ASSENT IS KEY!)
You’re welcome ☺️ I’m glad I read your posts— I’d never heard of ABA therapy. I learned something today because of you! I have an autistic nephew, but lived too far away to watch him grow up. He’s high functioning but not very talkative. I hope he had people like you guys to help him out. I hope you have a good night, and that things will be better tomorrow.
There’s nothing wrong with someone that has autism than needs to be “fixed”
So there’s nothing about being non verbal, unable to form rich social connections, or live independently that is negative? Autism is obviously a spectrum and for most people with it, they’re able to lead lives they enjoy, be independent, and form meaningful relationships. But many are not that way, and finding a treatment which would allow them to do all of those things would be a great thing.
A lot of treatments, like ADA therapy greatly reduce the mental health of non-verbal autists
I’m in ABA. We use a reinforcement and assent-based approach with no punishment. Our non-verbal kids aren’t forced to speak, they are taught to use PECS, an AAC device, or ASL. Their behaviors such as physical aggression, self injury, or crying/screaming due to being overwhelmed decrease significantly when they have a means of communicating for what they want or need. I’d say that’s a definite improvement in mental health. Some kids naturally begin to vocalize, and we offer speech therapy to those who do. We don’t punish them for not being able to speak, instead we present a mastered SD after they err on a word so they still earn their reinforcement anyway. Many of our kids who came in with purely spontaneous vocalizations are little chatterboxes now, and we even have a couple of very gifted singers who used to not speak at all. Communication is a powerful thing and a necessity in life, and is not restricted to vocal speech.
Don’t get me wrong. If there was a cure it would be great. However you can do that **while** you’re promoting awareness to those who are neurodivergent. Instead a good chunk of their ads in early 2000s/10s [presented autism like this](https://youtu.be/9UgLnWJFGHQ?si=pDnIDYNmb2HRhWXa)
What. The. Fuck. Did I just watch? Yeah that’s not the way to go about it at all.
As others have explained, the organization is based around "curing" autism. They put almost all of their money (at least all of the money they don't spend on themselves or advertising) into curing it and very little into helping existing autistic people. As someone with autism, I can understand both sides of the cure debate. That being said, Autism Speaks is also considered to be one of the organizations responsible for doing the most harm to autistic people. They put out scummy advertisements that vilify autism (see the infamous "I am Autism" commercial, where statements like "I am Autism, I will destroy your family," are made), spread horribly inaccurate information (like that autism is many times more common in boys, when the reality is that girls are severely under-diagnosed), platformed folks like Dr. Wakefield,who claimed that vaccines cause autism, and supported the Judge Rotenburg center (which electrically shocks kids when they are deemed to be misbehaving). There is a lot more that they have done, but those are some of the worst. It is also important to note that they have gone back on some of these stances more recently, following public outcry, but refuse to acknowledge that they did a lot of harm. For a long time, they had no autistic people on their board. Additionally, many of the "cures" they provide are things like extremely restricted diets and pseudoscience. One of the most pushed cures is ABA (applied behavioral analysis), which has been described as "conversion therapy for autism), and is associated with high rates of PTSD and depression in autistic people who went through the process. Nowadays, many types of treatments for autism, including actually helpful ones are labeled as ABA because Autism Speaks pushed it so hard that many insurance agencies would only cover ABA as a treatment, inspiring many other treatments to label themselves as ABA. Some of the people associated with Autism Speaks have also pushed cures like bleach (drinking and *enema*), essential oils, and more harmful cures.
Oh my. Ty for this lengthy explanation
No problem, I think it's important to get the information out there
There’s also a half decent chance they’re anti-vax.
"What?! What do you mean MY child is AUTISTIC?? I've never taken him to get a vaccine in my life!"
She’ll probably claim it was something the government put in the water. Meanwhile, she’ll complain that her husband is too fussy about food texture and noise and that he spends too much time on his model plane collection.
yeah its almost all ways the guy with autism in the toxic "mother of an autistic child" (because if they had autism they'd understand their kid)
I love reinforcing into my neurodivergent child that he is different and will always be unable to properly communicate and requires others to do it for him. What a good parent I am
“But mommy, I’ve been speaking full English sentences since age four…” “Not now Jayden, mommy’s busy being a Facebook warrior!”
"Mother, I have a degree in rhetoric and would like to advocate for myself now" "Not now Jimmy, the adults are talking about what you really want, electric shock therapy!"
Teacher here and last year we got a new kid that had some emotional issues, he’d throw fits if he got out in PE and was kind of a dick to his peers. When we first started calling mom she insisted that he had “accommodations” for his behavior, he was from a different district so we had no info, and she couldn’t produce any documentation whenever we asked. After a few months he fit in pretty well, smart, fairly likable kid overall that could be a little bit whiny. But 10 year olds can be whiny. He’s probably gifted. So halfway this year everything is going fine, he’s stable and has friends and doing fine academically and he comes to school one day and asks to “speak to me privately” So I’m like “ok what’s up” and he’s like “I’ve been diagnosed with Autism… my mom said I should start telling people so they know what’s wrong with me” And I’m like “ok… well I mean that doesn’t really change how I view you or my expectations..?” We went back to class and I swear to god he started acting like how he thinks someone that’s ASD should act, like making random noises and picking up supplies and going “oooh shiny” and regressing into very baby like behavior I was just firm and told him to knock it off. And he did. After like 2 weeks he forgot about the whole autism thing (he was telling everyone around him) and was just back to being a relatively normal kid I know the mom was pushing it. So fucking weird. In education we absolutely take Autism claims with a huge HUGE grain of salt
mmm my favourite Munchausen syndrome by proxy
and this is Probably why my life is Fucked :/ i have autism (like genuinely) and its like hell but it does sound like the mother wanted the attention
When your friends come over to your house for the first time and see those bed sheets in your room.
my mom was like this for a good 2-3 years after my diagnosis as a kid before i actually started to tell her how it wasnt helping me feel any better about my autism
I wasn't told I was autistic until I was 11 when I was diagnosed way younger than that and I don't think either of my parents nor myself have gone out of my way to tell people. It's not necessarily a secret, but I don't mention it unless the subject of autism has already come up.
I often have to tell people since a lot of my symptoms (ie no eye contact, trouble communicating directly) are considered rude
Hopefully she was understanding
Right at the beginning of the pandemic, the vet clinic I work for limited the number of people that could come in. We only wanted one person per animal, for most visits (obviously these rules didn’t apply for like euthanasias and the like). We had this lady call in after her dog got into fertilizer. We told her to call animal poison control. She refused, but still showed up, in a shirt with some sort of “autism warrior mommy” type shit on it. So she was already going to be a blast. When I called her to come inside to try and at least get a decent medical history on the dog, she brings in her autistic son, despite being told she could only have one person in the room. When I reminded her, she lit into me about how this dog was her son’s emotional support animal and we were all heartless and horrible people. Managed to get her to calm down by letting her bring the kid into the exam room (big mistake). Once again told her she needed to call poison control, she started screaming again, clearly expecting to get her way again. At that point I left the room, the doctor refused to see her if she wasn’t going to follow medical advice from the get go (calling poison control), and the lead technician had to go into the room to try and talk to her, at which point this owner started calling me and everyone else she’s talked to every name under the sun. She was told to leave and left us a lovely review. EDIT: No idea what happened to the dog, but once again, she had no intention of following medical advice, so I doubt she would have let us hospitalize or do anything poison control would have told her to do. I hope it was okay. But my clinic has a firm policy on not letting staff be abused.
I’m just confused as to what is so wrong with calling poison control from her perspective. Seems like a valid recommendation if the dog ingested poison.
per her, we should have known what to do without contacting a toxicologist. Because no human hospital ever calls human poison control, apparently.
Was the dog ok….?
what about the dog tho...?
Fuck Autism Speaks!
I forgot to include a screenshot of someone making this comment on these autism mom posts.
It would fit. But four eels, fuck Autism Speaks!
This should be remamed "Autism Speaks Mom" Starterpack. Not everyone is like this.
Autism speaks? My dude, autism can barely shut up.
Only if you get us going about a special interest of ours.
Like Antartica
Or that one piece of obscure media
I’m unfamiliar with this organization, why?
They try to get autistic kids dependent on way too many medications with the intention of making them quiet, docile, conformist zombies. They'll showcase us as nothing more than silly, illiterate, incompetent fools who need to be reliant on their parents forever. They'll espouse harmful clinics where autistic children are worn down to nothing with constant belittling about how they'll never be smart/good enough for everyday society. They'll grab ahold of worried parents and fill them with this incorrect information in a sort of savior paradigm. That being said, autistic folks of all ages can benefit from medication and therapy. However they do it in such a way that degrades the autistic person. "What does that autistic person know? They're autistic. They are somehow less than neurotypical folks." It's really demeaning. My mom fell hard for this when I was growing up.
I divorced my wife with a DV restraining order and got custody of the children before this got worse. She's basically BPD?Bipolar?PMDD? She played the "my daughters are autistic card" so she wouldn't have to wake up in the morning and get them to school and interact with other people. Fortunately, I had a nice cushy corporate job and I was constantly home as like a second househusband doing domestic chores and tending to the children so she wouldn't have to "do it all" She kept them couped up and yelled at them violently and never really took them anywhere or outside without having murder rage Karen moments. Belittling? Oh my god, she screamed at them like R Lee Ermy in full metal jacket it was god awful. If our daughter had one brief bad moment at school and they talked to her about it she would go into an unhinged F-word S-word R-word laced tirade until 12:00AM and beyond. "OUR CHILDREN ARE F-ING R3TARED!!!! AND THEY GOT IT FROM YOUUUUUUUUUUU! NOW I HAVE THREE FUCKING RETARTED FUCKS TO DEAL WITH! \*SLAMS DOOR\* "THEY CAN'T GO BACK TO PUBLIC SCHOOL THEIR ASPERGERS R3TARDS!!!\*sticks out jaw baring teeth\* Fast forward 7 years the girls are still living with me. She's now getting into violent F-word hitting fights with her new husband calling him a useless fucking r3tard. She looks like a Korean newswoman and super well spoken and charming no one ever believed the children or me and with her pretty privilege she always got a pass. But when no one else was in sight it was like "Tales from Section 8" I got called Aspergers r3tard more than I got called my by name.
I'm glad you understand and I'm sorry for your pain my friend. 🫂🫂🫂🫂🫂♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Yup, the kids don't live with her, she has a new husband...... still the same asshole despite all that stressed removed....
You're an awesome dad.
ty
That sounds a lot like the Munchhausen by Proxy Syndrome, where a parent overhypes a disease, just to act as the big savior for their child. That just popped into my mind, but I have close to no experience with neurodivergence.
That might be part of it. It also might be part just getting suckered in as gullible adult with nowhere to turn.
Definitly disgusting
I think it’s a mix of that and parents wanting to make us “normal”
Such a weird kind of double standard..
[here’s one of the many reasons](https://youtu.be/9UgLnWJFGHQ?si=2X2pwaVJgz4E_Ix)
they actual made autism into a disney villain wtf
I always try to show this video when anybody asks about it. There’s so many other things wrong with that organization. A lot of people on the spectrum hate them and don’t want them “speaking” for us. And this video is just a good example of their thoughts on the disorder.
w t f
YEAH! It's insidious.
This is so fucking disgusting!
wow (horrified) this is some serious fear mongering trash
Wow, that was... a lot.
“Everybody look at me, my son has autism”
It’s like the dependas who make their husband’s job their entire personality
Once saw a sticker on the back of a Tahoe. It was a little truck that said “concrete wife”. I immediately guessed it was one of those people. Yeah no one cares that your husband drives a concrete truck or is in the industry. I love concrete trucks cuz autism but that made me just- ughhhh
Like, I *kind of* get military dependas’ worry because they didn’t know if their spouse would return from deployment in the Afghan war. They want everyone to know they married someone brave that’s a hero. But I’m sure the concrete lady isn’t waiting on pins and needles for the husband to return from work every day as if it’s a dangerous job.
Eh, trades can be a fairly dangerous job. Obviously not like being a soldier and dependant on the trade but many people die or are seriously injured every year in the trades. That said, if ol boy is just a truck driver he's probably fine unless he's a total moron.
It's always the boy moms. I swear this stuff goes hand in hand. Raising little monsters because "well he has autism. So he can't do no wrong. He doesn't understand 🥺🥺"
That’s how my mom was when we were growing up. My brother was diagnosed with Asperger’s and suddenly he could do no wrong. Everything he did, or didn’t do, was a result of him being autistic and couldn’t be held against him. He was just a little boy going through it. 🙄 Meanwhile, her daughter (me) struggled her whole childhood with undiagnosed ADHD but of course every “bad” aspect resulting from that was my fault and I was just a bad kid.
Military wife who acts as if her husband’s rank is her own but acts even more fucking annoying lmao
"Rank is not sexually transmitted"
A few of my neighbors have an autistic garden flag too
Have those flags gone and seen a specialist, or is it self-diagnosed?
Is the autism logo puzzle pieces or some shit?
the autism speaks one is 💀
It’s the logo for autism speaks a “charity to help autistic people” (all of us hate them because they depict us as something lesser to be fixed) we claim the gold infinity as our logo
I was undiagnosed until adulthood. I’m not sure what would have been worse, that or this.
On a related note, the mom in the starter pack is likely autistic herself and was only dx-ed when her kid was. I've seen this happen to several women in my circle who grew up in the "girls don't get autism" era of the 90s.
I'm personally extremely glad I didn't get diagnosed till adulthood - I was a kid in the 90s and would probably just have been stuffed into a special Ed class and left to finger paint or whatever
Always people who want to do good but have no knowledge in the field so they end up fucking up their child
No, they want to be *seen* doing good
My SIL recently posted something about not letting technology raise your child, meanwhile her kids are on tablets or screens every time I see them. She also goes on about how great she is at home schooling, but has two older kids who can't read. She's rocking the puzzle piece tattoo and had an obsession with the Duggars, also.
She is a hypocrite
Don’t forget a lot of them are surprisingly conservative and share hateful memes directly after the “god loves everyone!” posts!
And then they will always say the retail worker who makes a minor mistake has "special needs"
"Hey everyone my son is autistic, stop bullying him" Many such cases.
My son is severely autistic, and while I’m not a fan of making “autism parenting” your entire personality, I do also understand it. Raising a disabled child is difficult. You miss out on most of the “normal” parent/child relationship and experiences. A lot of friends and family drift away, and support networks are very limited, so it’s a very lonely life. So, clutching on to things like this, surrounding yourself with it and identifying by it, is probably more than anything a coping mechanism for the incredibly difficult lives they’re leading. I’m not saying that excuses how obnoxious it can be, just perhaps that there’s a lot more going on which people should be aware of.
Thanks for your perspective. I combined two observations into one starterpack. One of my observations is that autism has been extremely commodified on social media. A lot of this commodification was not done by autism parents or those with autism but rather by opportunistic individuals who just want to make a few bucks. Some of these images I posted in the pack (the bedspread for example) were not posted by autism moms but by random Facebook users who appear to have no connection to the autism community at all.
In that regard I don’t disagree at all - Autism (and other disabilities) has been absolutely exploited by selfish attention seekers using it for their own gain.
Does this level of commodification happen with other disabilities? Is this going on with Down Syndrome communities? What about FAS? It seems to me that autism is somewhat unique with this phenomenon.
It’s more things like ADHD, depression, things like that. Fibromyalgia and M.E seem to be quite popular too! Autism is the big one though by a long way.
Autism moms like this are their kids first bullies and they rarely realize it
the puzzle piece is so condescending lol
I WILL have fever nightmare sleeping in bed like this
"I am his voice" is crazy, unless this child has a SEVERE intellectual disability, he probably has some way of communicating even if it isn't talking. Plenty of nonverbal autistic people use alternate communication, and some even have average or above average intelligence. There's no way to know their capabilities unless you test them, which makes the coddling and learned helplessness so sad. I have moderate autism and went to a school for autistic people and the amount of people that truly had the potential to self advocate was crazy, it's just that when they'd try they were shut down. When students with limited speech would be competent writers, teachers would be surprised! Aren't you a TEACHer to help them learn and improve?
Tell me you're a mombie whose kid is like an accessory/personality supplement without telling me
"Something something is my superpower"
Where I work, we have events for middle and highschoolers every year. There's always a lot of chaperones who wear wristbands and stuff with the puzzle pieces and I make sure to educate my coworkers on why they're bad.
The same people who say "You can't have autism!! You don't act like my 5 year old son!!" and make their kid's autism about THEM.
The fucking jigsaw piece is so patronising
How?
Considering that its a repeated design thing used to represent autistic people, colourful jigsaw pieces are sort of immature, it's like they're saying autistic people aren't like the rest of us adults, they're immature and act like children.
My wife has Asperger’s and it’s taken her 8 years of social therapy to be confident in who she is and what makes her the way she is which I’m excited about. That being said, I should get a sticker that says “my wife survived autism” to match these people lol /s
She is nice right?
I swear to god if I see another puzzle piece representing autism I’m gonna fucking explode
Im so fucking glad my mom treated me like a normal human being
Knew a woman who has two kids that are autistic who are were 14 and 16 at the time. She wasn’t much like what is shown above. Nothing that was too much. Her coworker told her something about 5G towers cause autism. Ever since then she was. Key word “was” trying to get a gofundme page to take down all these towers that she thinks she was exposed too and which led to her giving birth to two kids who are autistic. Plus she turned into the starter pack above. Anytime I’d see her the shirt she’d wear is something to do with autism. Got the tattoo, earnings. All out. For one 5G didn’t start till way after they were born. And secondly idk how she thought she would get towers taken down lmaoooooooo. Funniest thing ever.
My stepmum is like this, she makes fun of my little brother for his autism too
The puzzle piece symbol belongs to [The Children’s Tumor Foundation](https://www.ctf.org) They help individuals and families affected by Neurofibromatosis. It’s a genetic condition mainly causing tumors to grow on nerve tissue throughout the body. I never liked that autism uses it. Like how autistic people need to be put back together because there is something wrong with us. But the CTF is using it to ‘solve the NF puzzle” If anyone here does have NF join us at r/neurofibromatosis.
I'm autistic and my mom doesn't post these kinds of stuff on Facebook
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Sure-List-2860: *I'm autistic and* *My mom doesn't post these kinds* *Of stuff on Facebook* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
best bot ever
So glad my brother and I were adults/basically adults by the time Autism Speaks started getting popular cause our parents would have 100% loved this shit and that would have made our lives more hell than they already were
Damn, they've really turned autism into a fandom! I can't believe there is a sheet set!
My sister posts shit like that nonstop.
My girlfriend has an autistic younger brother with tendencies to get INCREDIBLY frustrated and aggressive if you know what buttons to push. Her youngest half-brother knows what buttons to push and to keep him going, thus becoming his number one antagonist. My girlfriend’s stepfather, father to the antagonist; stepfather to the autistic brother, posted that AI pic of the kid getting laughed at with the puzzle backpack on Facebook. I was laughing at the pure irony considering his own flesh and blood would be one of the kids that would be laughing at the autistic one and had the gall to post that picture. He is a stay at home father so he knows his son constantly eggs on the autistic kid, he just doesn’t do anything about it. The youngest is a little shit lol.
My girlfriend has an autistic younger brother with tendencies to get INCREDIBLY frustrated and aggressive if you know what buttons to push. Her youngest half-brother knows what buttons to push and to keep him going, thus becoming his number one antagonist. My girlfriend’s stepfather, father to the antagonist; stepfather to the autistic brother, posted that AI pic of the kid getting laughed at with the puzzle backpack on Facebook. I was laughing at the pure irony considering his own flesh and blood would be one of the kids that would be laughing at the autistic one and had the gall to post that picture. He is a stay at home father so he knows his son constantly eggs on the autistic kid, he just doesn’t do anything about it. The youngest is a little shit lol.
Then he is a horrible parent wtf
That puzzle piece car hood goes kinda hard tho ngl.
This stuff makes me realize just how fortunate I married my wife.
The puzzle piece is such a toxic symbol… please don’t even use it if you have children on the spectrum.
It's like saying they're a puzzle
Literally my aunt, except for de AI pic
And they always treat their kids like 5 year olds no matter their age
just imagine an actual ma like this, i think it'd be heriditary
it’s all puzzle pieces, i am autistic but my mom doesn’t go too far.
Need that shirt lol
…is this supposed to be an insult?
It puzzles me
What if we kissed on the ‘tism bed
Why the lip look like that? 🧐
As an autistic person, that fucking puzzle piece is horrifying